IT Financial Management

The IT Budget Lifecycle Simulator

See the same IT budget through three lenses — Board, CFO, CIO. Enter your own numbers or use the sample data to explore how budget conversations differ by audience.

Read the framework & methodology behind this tool → (ITFM, TBM Taxonomy v4.0, why three lenses)

By Rohit Sahai · Senior Technology Executive & Independent Director

This is an illustrative simulation, not a budgeting or planning tool. All figures are either generic sample data or numbers you enter yourself — nothing is transmitted anywhere; everything runs, and is saved only, in your own browser. It does not represent any real organisation. Figures are shown in USD millions throughout.

How to use this tool

This page is for entering your numbers. Five steps, in order; skip any step and the tool still works, since everything is pre-loaded with sample data.

  1. Global IT Ledger. Enter or edit every line of Global/Internal IT's own spend. Tag each line with its Cost Pool, IT Tower, Consuming Unit and RGT (Run, Grow, Transform) category, then enter Budget and Q1 to Q4 actuals.
  2. Corporate Support & Revenue Units. Enter each business unit's own direct budget and quarterly spend. The Global/Internal IT row here is read only, it is pulled from the ledger above, not entered again.
  3. Global IT, Computed Views. Check the Cost Pool and Tower breakdowns here. These are calculated automatically from the ledger, there is nothing to enter.
  4. Assumptions. Set your revenue and industry, used for the revenue benchmark shown on the Executive Dashboard.
  5. Reset to sample data. Use the button below the ledger any time to start over with the built in example.

Once your numbers are in, everything you enter is saved to this browser automatically — open the Executive Dashboard → to see it summarised, ranked, and read through the Board, CFO and CIO lenses.

Terms used on this page: CAPEX = capital expenditure; OPEX = operating expenditure; P&L = Profit & Loss; TCO = Total Cost of Ownership; KPI = Key Performance Indicator.

Your numbers

Pre-loaded with generic sample data (US$m), structured on the TBM Taxonomy v4.0. Enter data once — every lens below is a computed view of the same underlying dataset, not a separate one. Nothing is submitted, nothing leaves your browser. New here? Read the framework first →

The single source of truth for Global/Internal IT — one line per spend item

Global/Internal IT and "Central IT" are the same entity — entered here once. Tag each line with its Cost Pool (the "what"), IT Tower (the "why"), and RGT (Run/Grow/Transform) portfolio category, then enter Budget and Q1–Q4 actuals. Everything else about Global IT — its CAPEX/OPEX totals, the Cost Pool view, the Tower view, and the Run/Grow/Transform split — is computed from these lines below, not entered again.